March 2011; The cholera epidemic affecting Haiti looks to be far worse than officials had thought, experts fear. Rather than affecting a predicted 400,000 people, the diarrhoeal disease could strike nearly twice as many as this, latest estimates suggest.
The World Health Organization says everything possible is being done to contain the disease. Before last year's devastating earthquake in the Caribbean nation, no cases of cholera had been seen on Haiti for more than a century.
The bacterial disease is spread from person-to-person through contaminated food and water.
Cholera bacteria. Colored transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of Vibrio cholerae bacteria, the cause of cholera (an infection of the small intestine). These gram-negative bacteria each have a single polar strand or flagellum (purple), which they use to move. They are water-borne pathogens that are transmitted to humans in contaminated water and food. The bacteria produce a toxin that causes diarrhea and extreme dehydration, which may be fatal if untreated. Outbreaks are associated with poor sanitary conditions and are often epidemic.
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